OPINION: ‘Nottingham Forest MUST develop a ruthless streak’

Lee Clarke

Frustration is simply the only emotion that can be used to describe the fortunes of Nottingham Forest right now, particularly after Tuesday’s 3-1 reversal at the hands of Fulham.

On the night the Cottagers were poor. They certainly didn’t look like a team who just last season were three games from the Premier League having qualified for the Championship play-offs.

What Forest must develop, however, is a ruthless streak that ensures they aren’t fluffing their lines at both ends of the pitch.

Poor old Daryl Murphy is scoring for fun in the final third, yet even he was guilty of missing a decent chance in the second half on Tuesday evening and whilst it isn’t really a criticism whilst he is scoring, the Reds could really do with grasping each chance that comes to them with both hands right now.

At the back things are in disarray to be brutally honest. Joe Worrall is making three or four errors per game, Matt Mills looks incapable of playing well in more than one game out of six, whilst Jack Hobbs and Michael Mancienne are seemingly more accustomed to life in the Queens Medical Centre such has been their recent lack of luck with injury issues.

One thing that fans must continue to do is stay loyal to boss Mark Warburton during this tricky period and despite a difficult run of results, I personally remain convinced that will be the manager for the entirety of the 2017/18 campaign.

Unless the Reds somehow find themselves inside the bottom three come March then I have faith that the club will finally give a manager the chance to stamp his own style and authority on the team – and that should definitely be seen as a good thing,

Forest played some lovely progressive football against Fulham and although they were beaten once again, I saw some clear signs that against some of the lesser teams in the league, points will be picked up if the team keeps up that level of determination.

One thing I do despise just now when it comes to my beloved football club is the wonderful world of Twitter, where some online supporters appear content to get great pleasure out of the club losing games as it gives them a platform to call for the manager to depart. The mind really does boggle!

No sooner had I walked out of the stadium on Tuesday evening was my phone buzzing at me with some Forest fans relishing in the prospect of the team losing a game of football.

I had of course disapproved at an opinion that the team was in decline following the Aston Villa game and apparently another defeat was their chance to gloat at the misfortune of the team on Tuesday night.

What supporters need to do is continue to buy into what Warburton is trying to achieve on the pitch and to get behind the Reds each and every week, even if it isn’t always a pretty sight.

Forest have lost home games to Leeds United, Wolves and Fulham this season yet as a club firmly in a transitional period is that really such a surprise?

Have some of our supporters become so arrogant and deluded as to where we are as a football club to think that we should be beating teams that boast years of togetherness or £15 million players?

Forest have literally just disembarked from five years of severe turbulence which almost forced the club towards ruin and that will not be repaired overnight, despite what some people think.

These are trying times for the club just now but off the field things are looking up, we have a young squad which boasts more than enough talent to start winning games, whilst we shouldn’t forget that Daryl Murphy is the leading scorer in the Championship at this early stage of the season.

The 2017/18 campaign needs to be the one we look back on in a few years as the season where Forest stuck by a manager and re-established themselves as a stable football club.

Despite some negative results of late I sincerely hope that the new regime has their heads screwed on a little tighter than the last one did. Indeed, it’s a positive step that none of the directors currently have Twitter looking at some recent remarks.

The beauty of football is that every setback is followed with another opportunity and 90 more minutes to put things right. Forest fans should focus all their energy on backing the lads to a vital three points against Sheffield United on Saturday.

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